Concert Review: Music As A Weapon Tour

The only word for it is AMAZING! Sunday night’s show at the Glens Falls Civic Center was everything it promised to be and more! In This Moment, Sevendust, Disturbed and Korn all delivered and put on a fantastic concert for a nearly-full arena.

Hundreds upon hundreds of fans of all ages stood in the (literally) below zero temperatures waiting for the doors to open. Some were bundled up completely, and others were dressed in shorts and T-shirts without being phased in the least. The thing that kept them going was knowing that they were going to have the night of their lives.

The arena is huge: like a football stadium, there are rows and rows of seats practically on top of each other, with the stage set up at one end, the sound equipment and guys at the other, and all the room in between for those who were lucky enough to get floor tickets. The stage is lit up and ready for the first band to go on. The purple lights are pointing at different angles and make the stage look alive. Around the top of the arena are concession stands with pretzels, soda, water and beer, along with other edible odd’s and end’s.

The doors opened, and they came in a fast but organized fashion, as they bombarded the arena and surrounding areas. Disturbed and Korn shirts adorned almost every person, young and old.

In This Moment was up first. Chris, Blake, Jeff and Travis took the stage, along with Maria Brink, who was beautiful in her white dress and brown cowboy boots. I think this is another thing that makes her unique: some people perceive female metal singers as fairly masculine, and Maria is anything but. Her mic stand is especially unique, as it is covered in what looks like salvaged objects: doll heads, skulls, animal heads, etc. and they continue down and flow into a pile all around the stand. Maria’s voice is insane, pure, heavy and melodic. The higher and longer she sang the more chills I got, and the higher the hair on my arms and neck stood up. They performed a handful of songs, including “Just Drive” and “The

Photo: Nick Lee, Q103

Promise.” Maria definitely stands out from the rest of the band. It’s not just her long, flowing blonde hair or her original, stunning looks and voice, but the fact that she is an amazing performer. She can easily grab the entire audience with her vibe and energy that she portrays through her body and voice. She puts her entire heart and being into every second and it truly shows. The rest of the band are sort of just there for her back up, as they just enhance how amazing she is.

Sevendust had a tough act to follow. Unfortunately, I missed most of their performance, as I was fulfilling duties of my own. After all, being a Q-Tease is hard work! From what I saw, however, they seemed to have put on a good show, and I was

Photo: Nick Lee, Q103

happy to hear them sing “Face to Face.”

Disturbed were co-headliners, and followed Sevendust in the line-up. It was the third time I’ve seen them, and they get better every time. David Draiman took the stage shortly after band members John, Dan and Mike, and opened right up with “Asylum,” the title of their newest album, which came out late last year. David has been doing this for years, so working the stage is not hard at all for him. Behind the band is a screen which displays pictures and videos that relate to each song. As they opened up, it showed David in an asylum with a confused and mischievous look on his face. During “Another way to die,” the screen showed the world, along with natural disasters and

Photo: Nick Lee, Q103

other ways “the world we love” is being “ravaged.” Other songs sang include: “The animal,” “Stupify,” “Liberate,” “Down with the sickness” and “Ten thousand fists.” Disturbed certainly got the feel of fists in the air, as the crowd frequently rose theirs in support. David also filmed the crowd for a few minutes which I thought was awesome, rather than just taking a picture like most bands. They played for about 90 minutes, and every second of it was unbelievable.

Korn finished up the night. I love Disturbed, but this was an instance of “saving the best for last.” It was my first time seeing them live, and I have to say that they completely blew me away. I was not expecting them to be as amazing as they were. It’s not even that they did any special or amazing thing; they were just themselves doing what they love. Their passion for their music just emanated off of them and was released onto the

Photo: Nick Lee, Q103

crowd. They sang mostly favorites, including “Shoots and ladders,” “Falling away from me,” and ”Beating me down.” At the end, they did one combined song with segments of a few songs, including “Twisted transistor,” ”Coming undone,” and even Queen‘s “We will rock you.” Jonathan Davis’s voice is perhaps one the most unique, bone-chilling male tones ever, and it was only intensified by the awesome melodic soundings of Munky, Fieldy and Ray. They all have their own unique vibe about them, but together they truly make one amazing band. They ended the show with a huge bang, and I left smiling and satisfied, as I’m sure everyone did.

It’s January, but I’m safely going to say this will be the show of 2011, and unless The Used comes to town this year, I think the Music as a Weapon tour will still have the reigning title this time next year.

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